IlIBRARY OF CONGRESS,! 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



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SELF-CULTIVATIO 



AN 



DELIVERED BEFORE 



THE SOCIETY OF THE ALUMNI 



OF THE 



COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, 



AT THEIR 



ANNIVERSARY, FEBRUARY 25th, 1851. 



BY W. D. PORTER 



A MEMBER. ^^f : -..•-— i-S^^^ 



^ ^^ 






[published by bequest of the society.] 



CHARLESTON: 

PRINTED BY EDWARD C. COUNCELL, 119 EAST-BAY. 

1851. 



U C i\ 



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MARCH iO, 1851. 
Dear Sir : 

At a meeting of the Society of the Alumni of the College of Charleston, 
held this afternoon, the undersig'tied were appointed a Committee to convey 
to you the following resolution which was adopted : 

" Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to the Hon. Wm. D. 
Porter, for his very able and eloquent address delivered before them at their 
late anniversary, and that a Committee be appointed to request of him a copy 
for publication." 

It affords us sincere pleasure to communicate the wishes of the Society ; 

and we hope that a production which, ft the time of its delivery, gave such 

great and unqualified satisfaction, may be placed in a permanent form, by 

your furnishing us with a copy for publication, at your earliest convenience. 

Very respectfully, 

JOS. T. LEE. 
H. D. LESESNE. 
JAS. W.MAY. 
To Hon. W. D. Portek. 



MARCH 11, 1851. 
Gentlemen : 

I have received your note, communicating a resolution passed by the So- 
ciety of the Alumni of the College of Charleston, in which they request for 
publication a copy of the address delivered before them upon the occasion of 
their late anniversary. 

I could wish that the Address were worthier of this compliment ; but 
such as it is, I place it at their disposal. 

Please accept for yourselves personally, the assurances of my esteem and 
respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

W. D. PORTER. 

Messrs. Jos. T, Lee, H, D. Lesesne, James W. Mat. 



ADDRESS. 



This is our festival day ! A pious duty, as well as a 
pleasant custom brings us together on this occasion. 
Years have glided by since most of us, elate with the 
hopes of youth, took leave of the calm retreats of the 
College, to enter upon the active and stirring scenes of 
life. Diverse have been our paths, and variously hath 
fortune dealt with us since those days ; but there is a 
bond of union between us, which the chances and 
changes of time cannot altogether sever, and which it 
is the aim of this Association to draw closer and render 
stronger with each recurring year. We are all the fos- 
ter-children of Alma Mater ! In turn, we have bowed 
to her discipline, and felt her tender cares ; we have 
sojourned in her halls, spending laborious hours and 
days in 

" Search of deep philosophy, 
Wit, eloquence and poesy, 
Arts which we loved ;" — 

and as often as this day of commemoration rolls around, 
so often shall memory, still faithful to the past, call up 
to view images and scenes dear to recollection, because 
associated with many an early joy, and many a youth- 
ful aspiration. And though, now, as at all times, there 
should be in the retrospect, something of sadness and 
regret for departed pleasures which can never return, 
and for hopes, perhaps two ardent, hardly realized ; still 
shall the prevailing sentiment of our hearts be one of 
deep thankfulness to our academic mother for the soli- 
citude with which she trained us to whatever of acqui- 



sition or usefulness we have since been able to attain. 
Long, long, may the College, which looks out upon the 
ocean, flourish in modest but generous rivalry of that, 
which, like some crowning glory, sits upon a hill in the 
centre of our State ! 

There are other pleasures, too, which this occasion 
brings with it. Not only does it revive old and agree- 
ble recollections, but it gives us the opportunity of 
forming new associations and new friendships with 
those who have passed through the same probation 
as ourselves. Already has a fresh band of Alumni 
just issued from the portals of the College ; the hopes 
of youth are beating high at their hearts, and the 
kindly ofiices of friends are strewing their path- way with 
flowers. The eye of the mother glistens with a quick 
emotion, as she bids her boy, the pride of her heart, 
God-speed on his way; while the father looks for- 
ward with a more calculating, but yet hopeful confi- 
dence to the distinction into which the early promise 
of his son may well be expected to ripen. Fortunate 
young men ! to have enjoyed the benefits of a liberal 
culture, and to have begun the journey of life under 
such happy auspices ! Over how many thousands of 
your fellow-citizens have you been distinguished by 
these superior advantages, and by what an increased 
weight of obligation are you constrained to render them 
available for good ! May the germs of excellence that 
have already unfolded themselves in your minds find 
a shelter from the blight of the world, and ripen in due 
season into rich and golden fruits ! For ourselves, we 
meet you with a cordial greeting, and bid you welcome, 
as a worthy accession, to the growing ranks of our 
brotherhood. 



How full of interest is the situation of an intelligent 
and ingenuous young man, just about to enter upon the 
stage of active life. Hitherto he has been trained and 

a 

guided by others, but now the whole responsibility of 
his education is to be devolved upon himself Hitherto 
his lessons have been learned chiefly from books, but 
now experience, derived from actual contact with men 
and things, is to give discipline to his mind, and shape 
and consistency to his character. Before him lies the 
world, with its infinite diversity of pursuits and enter- 
prises ; its hopes, excitements, temptations and strug- 
gles ; its glittering rewards, and its cruel, he art- crushing 
disappointments. Pleasure, with syren voice, woos 
him on one side, into the ways of dalliance ; while on 
the other, labor points him to the rugged steeps where 
knowledge and virtue hold their chosen seats. Ease 
has its seductions, and just in proportion as his aims 
are high, does he know them to be difficult of attain- 
ment ; but in making the nobler choice, in taking the 
first resolute step in the right direction, he has already 
conquered more than half the obstacles that lie in his 
way to success. To dare and to do, stand in much closer 
proximity than is generally supposed ; for the expe- 
rience of the world shows that there are few enterpri- 
ses which intelligence, united with a clear purpose and 
a strenuous, determined will, cannot accomplish. 

Intellect, mind, that faculty or assemblage of facul- 
ties, by means of which man acquires knowledge and 
applies it to useful purposes, is his peculiar possession ; 
and the improvement of which this distinguishing at- 
tribute is susceptible, as well as the great results it is 
capable of achieving, should inspire him with a high 
conception of the dignity of his nature, and the great 
ends of his being. It is by this means, that he con- 



trives, invents, and discovers; imagines and creates; 
traces the relations between cause and effect, analyses 
what is compound, and from the observation of parti- 
cular facts, rises to the comprehension of general laws. 
The results of this intellectual agency are all around 
and about us in such a rich and various profusion of 
shapes that, like old familiar things, they do not suffi- 
ciently impress our attention. How wonderfully are 
they displayed, for example, in the curious M^orkman- 
ship of the hand, fashioning things of use and of beauty ; 
in the construction of machines for the economy of 
time and the multiplication of power, combining the 
utmost force with the most delicate nicety and skill ; in 
the clearing of forests, the building of cities, and the 
binding of masses of men together under governments 
and into great communities ; in the mastery acquired 
over the forces of nature, so that they are not only dis- 
armed in a great measure of their power of mischief, 
but are rendered subservient to the daily uses of life ; 
in the rapid, far-reaching and wide-spreading inter- 
change of thought, intelligence and commodities, but 
lately rendered more perfect by a skilful appropriation 
of the powers of steam and electro-magnetism ; and in 
all the numberless arts and appliances which give com- 
fort, elegance and refinement to civilized society. There 
too, are those exquisite productions of poets, orators 
and philosophers, which are for the instruction and de- 
light of mankind in all time ; and though last not least 
in the scale of importance, the wonderful discove- 
ries of that science, which not content with reveal- 
ing the hidden things of earth, has winged its way 
into the clear upper sky, and brought to light the 
laws and influences which govern the movements of 
myriad circling worlds far beyond the reach of the 



unassisted eye. Certainly there is something sublime 
in a collective view of these realizations of thought, 
these displays of creative intellectual power, but we 
must not forget, that however grand and imposing in 
the mass, they are but the successive and accumulated 
contributions of individuals to the common stock of 
human knowledge. Revelation has been made after 
revelation, conquest has been achieved after con- 
quest, and improvement has been added to improve- 
ment, as the wants of man seemed to require them; 
and inasmuch as these wants by a law of his nature 
increase and multiply at every step of his progress, 
they operate as a perpetual stimulus to the exercise 
of his faculties for the supply and gratification of his 
desires. A great king of antiquity is said to have 
wept because he could find no more worlds to con- 
quer, but no philosopher has ever been heard to com- 
plain that he could extend no further the boundaris of 
knowledge. It is a piece of signal beneficence in the 
Divine economy, that in the wide realms of thought 
and science, there are always new ideas to be evolved 
and new agencies to be discovered; new fields to be 
cultivated, and new laurels to be won. 

The consciousness of possessing, in a greater or less 
degree, faculties such as I have described, so admira- 
ble in themselves, and so fitted to accomplish great 
results, should inspire the young adventurer in life with 
the determination of tasking them to the full term and 
limit of their ability. To vi'hat end has he been placed, 
with such glorious endowments, in the midst of this 
throng of thinking and active beings, if it be not that 
he may give "a true account of his gift of reason to 
the use and benefit of men." True, it is not the por- 
tion of all to speak with the tongue of eloquence, to 



10 

scale the heights of invention, or to leave the impress 
of their genius upon the times in v^hich thej live ; but 
all may rightly use and diligently employ the talents 
committed to their care, and in so doing, they v^ill have- 
fulfilled their mission here in all faithfulness and honor. 
The love of praise and distinction is an instinct of 
the soul, vindicating its native excellence. It is an 
aspiration after something higher; and however dim or 
vaguely defined the sentiment may be in the breasts of 
some, it is at all times, eminently worthy of encour- 
agement and respect. In obedience to this common 
sentiment, almost all young men begin their career in 
life by placing before them some ideal of excellence, 
some mark of ambition v^hich they aspire or hope to 
reach. And this is commendable and right ; but how 
few, alas ! have the courage and consistency of pur- 
pose to work their way up to the goal proposed, to 
" scorn delights, and live laborious days," to encounter 
the toils, privations and sensuous self-denials, which 
are the necessary conditions of success. And yet the 
labor of intellectual culture carries with it its own 
rich recompense ; for as the painter or sculptor sees 
with ecstacy the ideals of his fancy take beneath his 
hand shapes of life and beauty to enchant the v^orld, 
so does the student, with kindred emotions of delight 
and conscious power, feel within him the stirrings and 
the growth of those glorious intelligences that make 
him " in apprehension, so like a God." We crave ex- 
citement ! But what excitements are there more pure, 
genial and durable than those that accompany the pur- 
suit of truth ! The grosser pleasures of sense are tumul- 
tuous, but short lived ; they perish in the using, and 
leave no worthy memorial behind ; but to master an 
idea or a system, to light upon a happy discovery, to 



11 

proclaim a new truth, or elaborate a great principle^ 
affords as real and permanent, and oftentimes as intense 
gratification as any within the compass of human en- 
joyment. The rapturous exclamation of Archimedes, 
as he rushed from the bath in which he had solved the 
problem of Hiero's crown, is familiar to all students. 
When Kepler discovered the great law that fixes the 
relation between the periods and distances of the pla- 
netary bodies, he fell into the transports of what he 
calls a '' sacred fury," and, in the lofty confidence of 
assured immortality, he exclaimed, " The book is writ- 
ten, to be read either now or by posterity, I care not 
which ; it may well wait a century for a reader, when 
God has waited six thousand years for an observer !' 
And Milton who lost the use of his eyes in writing his' 
noble Defensio pro populo Anglicano, has expressed in 
lofty and immortal verse, the high and proud consola- 
tion, bordering almost upon exultation, which he de- 
rived from the consciousness that those " idle orbs" 
had been bereft of light, in the service of no unworthy 
cause : 

" Yet I argue not 
Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot 
Of heart or hope ; but still bear up and steer 
Right onward. What supports me, dost thou ask 1 
The conscience, friend, to have lost them overplied 
In liberty's defence, my noble task, — 
Of which all Europe rings from side to side. 
This thought might lead me thro' the world's vain mask, — 
Content, though blind, had I no better guide." 

There is much in the temper of the times and the 
country in which we live, to admonish us of the value 
of early and adequate preparation for the business of 
life. The present is what may be called in homely, 
but expressive phrase a fast age ; and in this country 
particularly, the unexampled rapidity of our progress 



12 

in all the elements of national greatness has commu- 
nicated to the people a fervor and restlessness of spirit 
that will not be content with any but the shortest and 
most summary modes of arriving at results. The ma- 
gical doings of steam and magnetism have infected 
them; they cannot abide the slow processes of former 
days, however sure ; their plans and enterprises must 
spring to maturity, like the prophet's gourd, in a single 
night. They have so often seen the wild imagination 
of yesterday become the reality of to-day, that they 
have come to regard nothing as extravagant, and to 
put implicit faith in the efficacy of adventurous dar- 
ing. The desire to accomplish is equalled only by 
the anxiety to begin. So vast is the area of our coun- 
try, so boundless its resources and opportunities, and 
so open and accessible to all, by means of its free po- 
pular institutions, are the avenues which lead to the 
general objects of desire — wealth, power, social and 
political position, that our young men step forward upon 
the stage of action, with an alacrity and confidence 
that are apt to make them undervalue those habits of 
patient discipline, of earnest, faithful and continuing in- 
dustry which lie at the bottom of all great and well-me- 
rited distinction. Enterprise and self-reliance are ex- 
cellent qualities in youth ; they are elements of great 
force, whether considered in their influence upon the 
formation of personal character, or upon the interests 
of society at large. But the young man who nourishes 
the hope of effecting something beyond mere transient 
popularity or temporary success, who is animated with 
the desire of building up a reputation which shall live 
after him, and be to his children at once a heritage 
and an example, must set out with the conviction and 
persevere in it to the end, that whatever may be the 



13 

natural quickness of his parts, Self-cultivation, the full 
and systematic development of his mind and resources 
is not the short labor of a day or a year, but the pro- 
gressive work of a life-time ; and that without this dis- 
cipline and preparation faithfully performed, no solid 
or enduring excellence can ever be achieved. Even 
Genius, with its rare and transcendent qualities, cannot 
subsist altogether on its own resources ; without the 
material which study supplies, its fires pale away and 
often die out from sheer exhaustion. Much less can 
Talent, the more common and mechanical, but in the 
main, not less useful endowment, expect to achieve any 
thing of consequence, without the aid of persevering 
labor. 

The self-cultivation of which I speak, does not con- 
sist altogether in what is commonly called learning. 
There are other teachers than books, and other schools 
than those in which masters and professors are to be 
found. Life has its unwritten lessons, of deeper im- 
port than human lore ; and what nobler school can there 
be to him who uses it right, than this many-colored 
world with its living manners, and its rich and diversi- 
fied experiences. That which is daily and hourly 
enacted before our eyes, is but an epitome of the gen- 
eral history of men and things. The same motives 
actuate, the same hopes inspire, the same passions 
agitate, and the same deeds are done here as elsewhere, 
now and in all time. Though always one, in es- 
sence, human nature has yet an endless variety of man- 
ifestations from the varying circumstances to which it 
is subjected in life. To understand this nature in the 
race as w^ell as the individual, and to comprehend the 
causes and principles which prevail in the regulation 
of human affairs, searching self-study, and a large, 



14 

accurate and generalizing observation are equally ne- 
cessary. There is a world within, that answers to the 
world without ; and the short aphorism of the Greek 
philosopher, Know thyself, embraces in its spirit a know- 
ledge far deeper, broader and more universal than its 
terms would seem to imply. 

Let me not be understood however, as seeking to 
disparage the value of college learning. Happy is he 
who enjoys its advantages and puts them to the proper 
account. These studies, if pursued in the right spirit, 
and especially that of the ancient classics, of those two 
languages which, though dead, yet speak to us with the 
voice of many centuries, and of those great masters 
of thought and composition who still maintain the ma- 
gical sway they have so long exercised over the hearts 
and understandings of men, will cultivate his taste, 
store his mind with noble imagery, give scope and 
strength to his argumentative faculties, and fire his soul 
with those heroic breathings of freedom which have 
been to mankind, in all ages and climates, the source of 
hope and inspiration and fortitude to do and to suffer 
in the mortal struggles between liberty and power 
from which the world is never altogether free. There 
is no force in the objection that these are dead lan- 
guages. A great man, statesman, philosopher or hero, 
may die, and must die, — but his spirit and character, 
his principles and actions live forever, as a study and 
example to men. In the same sense, and for the same 
purposes, the model languages of Greece and Rome, 
although no longer spoken, survive and will survive, 
because instinct with living thoughts, as fresh and beau- 
tiful, as profound and true, now as in the days of their 
utterance. But in these, as in all other studies, real 
knowledge is not to be found on the surface ; like 



15 

trUith, it must be sought for at the bottom of the well. 
The art of all study, and indeed the great business of 
education is, not merely to accumulate knowledge, but 
to a'p'pro'priate it thoroughly, — to incorporate what we 
learn with our intellectual nature, and make it part and 
parcel of our intellectual being. To this end, the higher 
faculties of comparison, reasoning and judgment must 
be brought to bear, actively and constantly, upon the 
facts and things, with which reading and observation 
have made us acquainted. It is through the agency of 
these higher faculties, in their processes of analysis and 
generalization, that the information received through the 
senses, is converted into mind, like food into blood, — 
thereby giving to the whole mental system, a healthy 
and vigorous action, quickening and expanding its nat- 
ural powers, and enabling its possessor, by the sure 
and prompt application of these powers, to determine 
and to act, with almost unerring certainty, in the va- 
rious and complex exigencies of human life. It is 
knowledge so prepared, assimilated and rendered life- 
like and available, which constitutes ^wz^er; which is 
the parent of all decisive and efficient action ; and of 
which. Lord Bacon speaks so nobly, when he says : 
" the commandment of knowledge is yet higher than 
the commandment over the will ; for it is a command- 
ment over the reason, belief and understanding of man, 
which is the highest part of the mind, and giveth law 
to the will itself; for there is no power on earth, which 
setteth up a throne or chair of state in the spirits and 
souls of men, and in their cogitations, imaginations, 
opinions and belief, but Knowledge and Learning.''^ 

The choice of a vocation is an epoch in the life of 
a young man. However heedless or indolent his pre- 
vious course may have been, this important step should 




16 

never be taken without a full estimate of its bearing 
upon his future destiny. The incurring of new and 
weighty responsibiUties has not unfrequently arrested 
men in a career of levity, and called out into sudden 
and vigorous exercise, powers of which they were be- 
fore unconscious and unsuspected. "No more of these 
fooleries now," said Frederick the Great upon his ac- 
cession to the throne, to his old favorites who were 
luxuriating in the anticipated continuance of their for- 
mer idle dissipations ; and Charles XII of Sweden, on 
a like occasion, although a mere boy in years, is said to 
have astounded his grey-headed counsellors, by the 
sudden and wonderful transformation his character un- 
derwent. A young man when about to assume the 
manly gown and enter upon the arena of active life, 
should feel like some worthy Prince when called to his 
inheritance of a crown. " The world is all before him, 
where to choose ;" and inasmuch as this choice of a 
pursuit for life, involves duties which do not terminate 
in himself alone, but extend through all his relations 
" from dust to deity," it is matter of great concern that 
it be made wisely and well. A mere preference for 
one calling over others, is by no means a reliable test 
of capacity for its successful prosecution. This pre- 
f«*ence is often suggested by fashion, caprice, associa- 
tion, 'or other accidents and circumstances of a transi- 
tory character. There is for instance, a very strong 
proclivity among uaito the learned professions, from an 
idea that they are of superior respectability, and that 
they open a short and easy way to emolument and 
honors. Hence the number of mere supernumeraries, of 
idle unproductive consiui^eYS—"fruges consumere natif"— 
who hang upon the skirts of the professions, like camp 
followers upon the rear of an advancing dJ^j. When 



17 

a good merchant is lost in an. unskilful doctor, or an 
excellent mechanic in an indifferent lawyer, the loss is 
two-fold — to the community as well as to the individual. 
How poor must that spirit be, how meagre that ambi- 
tion, whiph instead of putting the thewes and sinews 
of the physical man, at least, to a good account, can 
content itself with occupying an undistinguished place 
upon the long and melancholy roll of " briefless bar- 
risters," or with rejoicing in a diploma which is generally 
regarded as little better than a license to jeopard hu- 
man life. No ! it is the man that illustrates the calling ; 
not the calling, the man. There is no office or employ- 
ment so high, that it can give respectability to igno- 
rance or indolence ; nor is there any so low, that it can 
detract from the dignity of intelligent, faithful and vir- 
tuous endeavor. Follow the bent of your genius ; but 
that you may not be deceived or misled, first institute 
an honest and thorough scrutiny into your natural ap- 
titudes, your qualifications of body and mind, for the 
pursuit proposed. Interrogate Nature in good faith, and 
in this, as in all other matters, she will respond to your 
questionings, with a fidelity and truth, upon which you 
may safely rely. 

But whatever the vocation, let it be your great aim 
to acquire a mastery over it. Fix your standard of at- 
tainment high, and work up to it with the faitsh and 
hope, the dauntless courage and untiring activity which 
belong to earnest and aspiring matures. 'Youthful 
energy is an agent of mighty power ; and when fired 
by a pure love of excellence, is capable of achieving 
magnificent results. What indeed can it not accomplish? 
Facing difficulties, and making sport of obstacles; cut- 
ting down the mountains, and raising up vallies that 
lie in its course ; bounding on, in all the rapture of sue- 




18 

cessful strife, from one victorious conflict to another, it 
moves right onward and upward in its proud career, 
with its unblenching eye ever fixed upon higher sum- 
mits of achievement, and 

" All the crooked paths 
Of time and change disdaining, takes the range 
Along the line of limitless desires." 

Young men ! be true to the immortal principle of 
progress that lies folded up within you. Cultivate your 
whole spiritual being, — heart, intellect and soul. Carry 
forward with you into the powders, and duties and strug- 
gles of manhood, the feelings of boyhood ; — its joyous 
bouyancy of spirit ; its fresh and unwearying ardor ; 
its love of the right and the true ; its warm and gush- 
ix\o sensibilities that leap at every touch of kindred 
nature ; its full, free, and glorious affections, that like 
the knights of old, go forth into the world in search of 
vi^orthy objects, whereon to lavish all the wealth of 
their charities. So only can you expect to be happy ; 
so only hope to be good and great ! 




